The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-08-17
GREAT RAILROAD ACCIDENT.

GREAT RAILROAD ACCIDENT.
Over One Hundred Persons Instant
ly Killed, and Many Others Fatal.
ly Wounded.
CHICAGO, August ia special 10 the Chi
cago Times from Forest, ILL.,, says:
All the railway horrors In the history OF
this country were surpassed three miles east
of Chattsworth last night, whom an excursion
tram on the Toledo, Peoria and Western Rail.
road dropped through n burn ing bridge and
over one hundred people were killed anu iour
times that number more or less badly injured.
The train was composed OF six sleeping cars,
six day coaches and chair cars and three bag.
gage cars. 1t was carrying $50 passengers, all
eXcursionistS and was bound for Niagara
Falls. The train had been made up all along
the line of the Toledo, Peoria and Western
Railroad, and the eXcursioniss hailed from
various points in central Illinois, the bulk OF
of the passengers came from Canton, FL Passo,
Washington, and In fact all stations along the
ington and Keokuk. A special and cheap
rate had been made for the excursion, and all
sorts of people took advantage OF IT.. When
the train drew out of Peoria ut O'Clock last
evening 1t was loaded to It's utmost capacity.
Every berth in the six sleepers were taken,
and the day cars carried sixty people eacn.
The train was SO heavy that two engines were
hitched to IL, and whom it passed this place II
was an hour and q half behind.
Chattsworth, the next station east OF here,
is six miles of, and the run there was made
in seven minutes SO the terrible momentum
of these fifteen coaches and two engines,
shooting through space at the rate OF mile
minute, Is understood. No stop was made at
Chattsworth, and on and on the heavy train,
with its living freight, sped through the dark
ness Of the night.
Three miles of Chattsworth is little slough,
and where the railroad crosses dry run
about ten feet deep and fifteen feet wide.
trestie bridge. and as the excursion train came
laundering down Oh 1t, what was the horror
of the engineer on the front engine when he
saw that the bridge was burning; t. 4 Right up
the next instant he was among them. There
was no chance TO stop. Had there been any
warning 1t would have taken half mile TO
stop, and the train was within 100 yards OF the
red.tongued messenger OF death before they
flashed their fatal signals into the eng ineerS
fucc. But he went over in safety, the first en-
bridge leil beneath it, and 1t could only have
been the terrific speed Of the train that saved
the lives of the eng ineer and nreman. But
the next engine went down, aid instantly
THE DEED OF DEATH WAS DONE.
Car crashed into car, Coaches piled one
OH top of another, and in the twinkllng OF an
eye nearly one hundred people found instant
death and fifty more were so hurt that they
could not live. AS for the wounded, they
were everywhere. Only the sleeping coaches
escaped, and rs the startled and half-dressed
passengers came tumbling out OF them thry
found such Il scene OF death as Is rarely VII
messed, and such work to do that 1t seemed as
human hands were incapable. 1t lacked oui
five minutes OF midnight. Down I'm the ditch
lay Second Engineer McClintoek dead ana
Fireman Appegate badly Injured. ~ On ,on Top p
another, like child'S card-house 4ahsE be- had
swept 1t with his hand Thep-Game six day
coaches; They were teffescoped as cars never
were bef6rtee e. ttird three of them were pressed
sGto just space enough for one. The second
car had mounted off It's trucks, crashed
through the car ahead Of 1t, crushing the
wood aside like tinder, and lay there, restlng
the front car was laying dead and dying un'
derneath. Out of that car but four people
came alive. On top OF the second car lay the
third, and although the latter uld not cover
It's bearer as completely as the one beneath,
its bottom was Sneared with the blood ol It's
victims. The other three cars were not so
badly crushed, but were broken ana twisted
in every conceivable way, and every crushed
timber and beam represented crushed nu'
man frame and broken bone. Instantly the
air was filled with the cries of the wounded
and the Shrieks of those about to die. Groans
Of men and screams of women added To make
an appalling sound, and above all could be
heard the agoAiZing
CRIES OF LITTLE CHILDREN,
rs in some instances they lay pinned beside
BILE danger yet to be met. The bridge was
still burning, and the cars were laying ON
and around the fiercely burning embcrs: Ev.
erywhere in the wreck were wounded and
could be saved If they could be gotten out,
but whose death In most horrible form was
certain if the twisted wood of the broken
cars caught. And to fight the fire there was
NOT A DROP OF WATER,
and only some fifty able-boded men who still
had presence of mind and nerve enough for
duty. The only light was that OF the burning
bridge, and with so much Of its aid fifty men
went to work to fight the flames. For four
hours they fought like tiends, and for four
hours victory hung In ns SanmSe Earth
could be fought, and so an attempt was
made to smother it. There was no pick or
shovel to dig it up, and no barrows to carry II,
their fingers into the earth, which the long
drought had baked almost as hard as stone,
and heapcd the precious handtuls thus hardly
won upon the
ENCRoACHING FLAMES,
and with this earthwork, built handful by
handful, kept back the foe. While this was
going on, other brave men srept under the
wrecked cars beneath the fire and wooden
bars which held as prisoners so many precious
lives and with pieces OF boards, and some
times their hands, beat back the flames when
they flashed up alongside the seats. An un-
fortunate wretch who was pinned down by a
heavy beam looked on helplessly while 1t
seemed as II his death by fire was certain.
And while the fight was thus going on, the
ears of the workers were filled with the
groans of dying men, the anguished entreat-
les Of those whose death seemed certain un-
less the terrible blaze could be extingulshed
and the cries OF those too badly hurt to care
In what manner death were brought about, SO
1t only would he quick. So they dug up the
earth with their own hands, reckless OF the
blood streaming out from their broken finger
nails, and heaptng it up IN little mounds,
while all the time came
HEART-RENDING CRIES,
But finally the victory was won; the fire was
out after four hours OF endeavor, and as its
last spark died away the light came up In the
east to take their place and the dawn came
upon n scene Of horror.
While the fight had been going on men had
been dying, and there were not SO many
wounded to take out as there had been four
hours before. But in the meantime the
country had been aroused. Help had come
from Chattsworth Forest and Piper cities,
and as the dead were laid reverently along
side of each other in cornfield, there were
ready hands to take them into Chattsworth,
while some of the wounded were carried to
Piper City. One hundred and eighteen was
the
AWFUL POLL OF THE DEAD,
while the wounded number four times that
many. The full tale OF the dead cannot, how
ever, be told yet for days. Chattsworth was
turned into morgue to-day. The town hall,
engine house and Uepot were all f,,lI nf dnoi